Version 2 Alpha 2

Thanks for all of your feedback from alpha 1. We've taken that feedback and released alpha 2!

For this alpha we are using the scene from the Deathmatch AI Kit. The areas that we've focused on since the last alpha are:

- Improving the collision detecting- The first person spring system

Unfortunately we had to revert the shader-based first person render system and instead use the standard two camera approach for rendering the first person weapon. The shader technique ended up not working on all platforms with all render types. All hope isn't lost though, Unity's upcoming scriptable render pipeline will be able to provide the same functionality in a much more 'official' way.

@AnOrdinarySandwich, in last alpha test you were concerned that the controller didn't 'feel' like UFPS. I'm extremely interested in hearing what you think after this latest alpha.

Just like last time, please give us as much feedback as you can. We're still multiple months away from a final release so anything is open to change.

Comments

Comments only: - Everything is extremely shiny and looks like Chrome except for the floors - walking from the Blue vertical bubble tower to the wall up the ramp takes 11 seconds in First Person and 4.5 seconds in Third Person - Third Person is much faster movement - Third Person blocks the camera when looking at the Blue vertical bubble tower down the ramp with back to wall - At times when walking in Third Person the player slows way down and then speeds way up (like super boost). Probably scene loading issues. (Same with First person) - map - can't figure out how to get up to the second level surrounding the blue vertical bubble tower. - First person would be too laggy to use in a game especially if someone else is in Third person (they would run laps around you) since Third person is faster, turns smoother and controls quicker. - Would be nice to see weapon switching

I think a lot of those issues relate to WebGL. In the editor the speed is the same between first and third person (root motion versus not). I'll look into what is causing the WebGL issue, but for this alpha here's a Windows build which should more accurately reflect where we're at.

3 - The weapon sways nicely when going side to side in FPS. The pose is mirrored in TPS and does not match the FPS animation.

I'm still trying to figure out the right way to approach this. Right now you have the spring mechanics for the camera and weapons in first person mode, but it doesn't exist at all in third person mode. Maybe add springs to the third person mode as well? We also need to solve aiming/shooting while running/jumping in third person mode.

Iv noticed a slight issue though with the camera's they don't seem to be in perfect sync with each other with Culling (Noticed in 3rd person). When I ran across to the other side of the room and moved near a corner I noticed bunch of pop in- pop out of objects. So out of curiosity once I found the angle that did it, I popped between 1st and 3rd. In 1st the objects were there, but in 3rd they vanished. Its a pretty small sweet spot but its there. You can see in the screen grabs here:http://imgur.com/0Crbese

Great job on the rest though. Much of my other observations were already covered by the others.

I ran the WebGL version right after you put it up and I saw the culling thing, where the "room" disappears and a skybox type sky appears in a small location, but that's just a minor glitch. I think the little guy jumps better now. Less like superman, more like Gordon. The little bit of sway that is included seems good. I hope that the next Alpha will include a little pew-pew kaboom and some footstep sounds and stuff. Gotta play to our baser instincts, ya' know? Sex and violence sell, even in Alpha versions. That mouse capture thing is all good now and that made me feel less stupid, so that's a positive thing. I'm liking it, but maybe let's put him outside next time, into the woods or something where he can crouch and sneak around a little? haha!! Maybe even a Demo Scene 3 version. It's going to be a hit. No doubt about it.

Beautiful objects are wrought by study through effort, but ugly things are reaped automatically without toil.Democritus

Iv noticed a slight issue though with the camera's they don't seem to be in perfect sync with each other with Culling (Noticed in 3rd person). When I ran across to the other side of the room and moved near a corner I noticed bunch of pop in- pop out of objects. So out of curiosity once I found the angle that did it, I popped between 1st and 3rd. In 1st the objects were there, but in 3rd they vanished. Its a pretty small sweet spot but its there. You can see in the screen grabs here:http://imgur.com/0Crbese

Demo Scene 3 for Alpha 3 it is! We'll then loop back around to SkyCity for Alpha 4 (I'll be leaving all of the alphas up just to be able to see the progress). No guarantees on crouching or sneaking though

When walking over the wall supports that stick out of the wall you can fall instantly to the ground a short distance. The instant fall is pretty jarring. Same thing happens if you walk off a ledge onto a ramp if its a certain fall distance. Also if you walk into a wall and are facing it while still trying to walk the camera continues to bob forwards and back like you are moving.

I have a suggestion to add at somepoint down the line. Hopefully this is a good place to say so. When landing on another characters head it would be nice to have different options. Somtimes you want to be able to stand on another characters head but other times you would want to slide off. Overwatch has a pretty good system. You can stand on a enemy bastions head since hes pretty flat&squarish. You will slide off a small character like Sombra. For teammates you sort of land inside them while pushing them away from you.

When walking over the wall supports that stick out of the wall you can fall instantly to the ground a short distance. The instant fall is pretty jarring. Same thing happens if you walk off a ledge onto a ramp if its a certain fall distance. Also if you walk into a wall and are facing it while still trying to walk the camera continues to bob forwards and back like you are moving.

Just so I'm understanding, you're referring to the fall and how the character goes into a "full fall mode" even though they are only falling a short distance?

I have a suggestion to add at somepoint down the line. Hopefully this is a good place to say so. When landing on another characters head it would be nice to have different options. Somtimes you want to be able to stand on another characters head but other times you would want to slide off. Overwatch has a pretty good system. You can stand on a enemy bastions head since hes pretty flat&squarish. You will slide off a small character like Sombra. For teammates you sort of land inside them while pushing them away from you.

The controller will include a slide ability which should give you this flexibility. The ability allows you to specify the angle that the character starts to slide at and this could be used in this situation.

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For a general alpha update: alpha 3 will be released sometime in July. I've been spending a lot of time on the networking implementation and it's working on really well. For server authoritative implementations (such as UNet) the controller will use client side prediction and server reconciliation. Non-authoritative implementations (such as Pun) do not require this since the client handles the positioning of the character.

Alpha 3 should also have the start of the weapon system. I'd like to have a basic firing mechanism in place for alpha 3. You probably will not be able to switch weapons yet.

It looks like you are instantly teleporting to the ground. It happens within a certain fall height range. It can happen if you walk off the side of the stairs at about 3-4 steps. If you walk off the side of the stairs higher up you will fall smoothly. http://i.imgur.com/2dJRZ49.jpgAlso after walking off the side and landing from the fall there is a way to fall through the map. Continue looking in the same direction, directly away from the stairs. While backup into the side of the stairs jump and you will fall through. http://i.imgur.com/pVIBpIs.gifv

It looks like you are instantly teleporting to the ground. It happens within a certain fall height range. It can happen if you walk off the side of the stairs at about 3-4 steps. If you walk off the side of the stairs higher up you will fall smoothly. http://i.imgur.com/2dJRZ49.jpgAlso after walking off the side and landing from the fall there is a way to fall through the map. Continue looking in the same direction, directly away from the stairs. While backup into the side of the stairs jump and you will fall through. http://i.imgur.com/pVIBpIs.gifv

Thanks for the details - I just fixed this. The "Stick To Ground" property was being a little too sticky. This option is used for if you have a fast moving character and start moving down some steps. Without this option the character would just fly forward above the steps because gravity isn't applying a high enough of a force in order to keep the character grounded.

Hey Justin, I'm not sure how far along you are with the spring system in alpha so please disregard whatever is not applicable:1) The spring system on the rifle seems great/fluid from the side to side motions and jump/land state and seems natural in 1st person. The up and down motion seems a little too bobby in that it is not really reacting to any forces it just has a normal, repetitive bob. Running doesn't drop the muzzle down and to the right (or whatever direction you prefer etc...) it just seems like the same bob as walking but sped up? This could have been designed of course and is a matter of preference just pointing it out.

2) When you look down in first person (straight down) and jump it looks like you can see part of the body every once in a while. Hard to tell cause everything is black but depending on what this is it might cause an issue on different models that aren't so futuristic (like if it was half of a shoulder or neck or something). Just depends on what that object is that crosses the screen for half a second.

3) Gravity feels a little heavy when compared to the old ufps but again this is a matter of personal preference and I'm sure there will be an adjustable gravity/stick for anyway.

No problem, love to see the progress! I hope you keep the spring system or some variation of it that allows for custom motions...I've been working with ufps recently and a lot of my models required fine tuning and custom adjustments to the spring settings to work just right. But afterwards it looks very fluid and natural.

For my post above I guess I should clarify what I meant in that the bob in walking straight forward/back, running straight forward/back did not seem as fluid as the movement when strafing/jumping which seemed much more natural.